


Concerns

by sansybones, withtheworms



Series: Rehab Cabin DLC [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Memory Loss, Post pacifist, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Rehab cabin, rehab cabin DLC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-24 12:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7508860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sansybones/pseuds/sansybones, https://archiveofourown.org/users/withtheworms/pseuds/withtheworms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Rehab Cabin DLC fic by @sansybones</p><p>Summary: After the Pacifist Ending, monsters have migrated to the surface. Everyone has built new lives for themselves and settled in. Well… mostly everyone.</p><p>Sansy says: You can consider this a sequel to “Home Sweet Home”, it takes place maybe a week or two after that fic. Will be released in two parts, with part two coming on Friday. <3 Sansy<br/>http://rehabcabin.tumblr.com/post/142133220521/home-sweet-home<br/>(update - immediately post 'The Incident' http://rehabcabin.tumblr.com/post/144209837486/the-incident )</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

Sans had really grown to love sunsets. The sky above was streaked with a riot of colours - pinks and blues, shades of magenta he never imagined he'd find splattered across the stratosphere. He still hadn't gotten used to it, the endless canvas of light and shadow stretching overhead, infinite cloud variations, ever-morphing weather patterns. People had been accusing him lately of "spacing out" but he didn't understand how they could go about their days ignoring the delicate blanket of atmosphere that was their sole defense against actually "spacing out". 

He pulled the last gummy worm from the thin plastic bag of assorted treats he'd picked up at the gas station and clenched it in his teeth, stretching it until it snapped in two. The sugar coating scraped against the inside of his jaw and he dropped the bag, watching it billow gently away. He slowed his pace further, craning his neck upwards to study the thin crescent of moon that was now visible just above the horizon. _Gorgeous. Stupid gorgeous._

Sans was too transfixed, too taken by the comfortable peace of twilight, to notice the extra cars parked around their house. He casually pushed his way inside, tossing his keys lazily onto the side table (ignoring the neat row of hooks Papyrus had installed above it for just such a key-organizing purpose).

Immediately, he was snapped from his reverie when he realized how full their living room was. 

Everyone was there. Well, it seemed like everyone? Papyrus, Mettaton, Toriel, Alphys, Undyne... _man_ , was that Burgerpants? NiceCreamGuy and Doggo... _wow_... Even.. _.Asgore_?

Everyone was staring at him.

"Eyyy, party!" Sans spread his arms in a broad welcoming gesture, lighting the room with his expansive grin. He was probably late. Papyrus probably told him this was happening, and he was sure he could pick up whatever this was all about in a few minutes. He crossed the living room and leapt into the narrow space remaining on the couch, squeezing himself between Toriel and NiceCreamGuy.  He dug his hands into a bowl of potato chips on the coffee table. "Nice spread you got goin' here, sorry I couldn't _chip in_! Hehe"

Nobody laughed, or even groaned at his pun. Nobody replied, and their expressions were stony and fixed on him. Anxiety crept up between Sans' ribs. _What did I forget now? Crap is this a... meeting?? Ugh. Am I even supposed to **be** here?_  
  
"Gang's all here, eh?" _Somebody had to clue him in, come on_. "hehe what is this, an intervention?" 

_Sans, you lazybones! I told you we were planning the anniversary party today!_ is what he expected Papyrus to say. Or something like that. Instead Papyrus stared at him wearily. He noticed now how exhausted his brother looked. He was hunched over, resting his elbows on his knees, and Mettaton was stroking his back sympathetically. _What. What happened._

Panicking, Sans tried to read the other expressions around the room. Tori? Concerned and sympathetic. Alphys looked anxious and Undyne looked pissed, but they always looked anxious and pissed, so no info there. Asgore looked stern. Mettaton? Disappointed. Doggo just looked like he _really didn't want to be here._  

_Shit._  
  
Sans couldn't figure this out. If something catastrophic had happened they would have called his cell. Nobody was laughing at his intervention joke, and they were all still fixed on him, almost like this actually _was_ an--

He dropped the potato chip, and the bottom dropped out of his stomach.  
  
"................... _is this an intervention_?"

Expressions around the room shifted: uncomfortable, disappointed, concerned.  
"...Sans," Toriel's massive paw was heavy but impossibly gentle as it moved to Sans' shoulder. 

"WHOA whoa, what the _FUCK_?" Sans jumped out of his spot on the couch and backed himself defensively against the living room's far wall. If he was going to stand accused, he'd face the assembled crescent of accusers head-on. 

"Guys, I'm _clean_. I haven't--"

Memories floated up. They were always hard to straighten out but Sans did remember a few things that he guessed might cause concern. Flashes of benders and times he'd hitch-hiked to, _uh, where was that again_? Times Paps had come home and been real mad about the state of the place. Times when people had yelled at him for missing some boring thing, fights with random assholes. Which was the one _they_ were all mad about _this time_? Which was the one that hadn't been Reset?  

"N-not since--"

_Ohhh. Shit. It's all of them. They remember ALL of them._

_Fuck. FUCK._


	2. Concerns Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Rehab Cabin DLC fic by @sansybones
> 
> Summary: After the Pacifist Ending, monsters have migrated to the surface. Everyone has built new lives for themselves and settled in. Well... mostly everyone.
> 
> Sansy says: THIS IS PART TWO! Start with Part ONE. It’s fiiiine it’s fine. He likes it! He’s having a great time. <3 Sansy

"S-Sans, try to stay calm. It's okay," Alphys had raised her hands in a pacifying gesture, but Sans did _not_ feel pacific.

He leaned against the wall to stabilize himself. The room was closing in on him. He thought he might puke. He thought he might pass out. Honestly, either outcome was preferable to the pounding in his temples and the wrenching tightness that threatened to implode his ribcage. It was all he could do to stamp down the prickling magic that just wanted to get him the _hell out of there_. He was used to doing the judging, but now he felt like he was gonna have a _bad time_ being judged.

The assembly searched to see who among them would be brave enough to spell this out.

"We're just here to talk," Toriel finally nominated herself as the voice of the group. "We're worried about you."

"I'm _fine_ ," Sans grinned, but his eyesockets were still threatening black pits.

"Pff," Undyne scoffed, "Yeah you're about as fine as a _tornado_. Do you have _any fucking clue_ what a pain in the ass you've been? How much of a shitshow you've created for Paps?"

"Undyne, _please_ ," Toriel raised a paw to silence the tirade.

Sans looked at Papyrus, but his brother had buried his head in his hands. Looking back at Toriel, Sans focused on swallowing down the hard lump in his throat as he waited for her to continue.

"Sans," Toriel folded her hands in her lap with formality, "I know moving to the surface was a huge transition. The surface is big and scary and new and exciting and _confusing_ , and of course some of us took longer than others to adjust. Over the past two years..."

_Two years?_ Reflexively, Sans tucked the information away for reference.

"..we've _all_ been challenged in our own way," Toriel continued. "But we've all _settled in_ to our new lives."

_Oh._ Sans realized, _it's the job thing again._

"Guys, guys," Sans raised his hands and gathered himself into the best _eyyy you know meee_ he could muster. "I'm _working_ on it. Really! I've had a skele- _ton_ of jobs. Ok so a few of them had _bones_ to pick with me, but what can I say. Turns out naps aren't such a marketable skill up here. I'll get there."

"You've had twelve jobs," Alphys adjusted her glasses. "And you've been fired from every one."

"Well, shit, I didn't know someone was _keepin' count_ ," Sans shoved his balled fists into the pockets of his jacket.

"Who knows, you might have lost more if you didn't miss so many interviews," Mettaton drawled, looking down his nose at the offensively short skeleton.  

"Okay... so I _suck_ ," Sans glared back with a shrug, and he could feel his cheeks darkening in humiliation. "Y'needed fifty people to come and tell me that?"

"No," Toriel sighed, "It's more than that. And, well... we're not quite _sure_ what's happening with you, Sans. It seems like your... employment challenges are just a symptom of something deeper."

"Y'leave food around, dude." Undyne blurted out, "It rots. It's _gross_. It's like you don't even care."

"A-and you're forgetful. I mean... W-we're _all_ forgetful but this is _next level_ , sometimes I w-wonder if you can manage to remember what month we're in!" Alphys chimed in.

"I'm workin' on it," Sans whispered to the floor. _Please. Please don't ask me what month it is._

"You can be, kinda... rude?" Doggo piped up from the corner. "Like... your jokes can be really _mean_ , sometimes. And then later you act like it never happened?"

"And darling, the disappearing act," Mettaton sighed, "Your poor brother doesn't know whether you'll be home or when you'll call needing a ride home from Mexico or Nebraska or who-knows-where."

"Ok."

"And the MESS," Burgerpants was starting in on him now. _Burgerpants of all people._ "I mean, I'm a slob but WOW. I bow down to the master."

"...OKAY."

"Not to mention that you spend money like there’s no tomorrow," the NiceCreamGuy interjected.

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE," Sans exploded, his left eye flashing its defensive cyan-yellow. "I GET IT, I'm a lazy good-for-nothing asshole. _Sorry_. OKAY?? SORRY."

The room fell silent and all Sans could hear was the pounding in his temples. He hugged himself into the wall, his palms were drenched and quivering. _They're all so upset._ The panic echoed in his skull. _All of them. Especially Papyrus._ His brother hadn't said a word during this entire assault, choosing instead to keep his head in his hands as if he could bury himself away from the whole situation.

"Sans," even Toriel's gentle voice failed to slow his escalating panic, "We're here because we all care _so much_ about you. Please help us understand what's going on."

"It's almost like you can't predict c-consequences?" Alphys looked _so damn sorry for him, ugh._ "O-or you have problems with impulse control, I'm not sure. I-I mean, we all chalked the rest of it up to laziness or flakiness before, but the m-money... Sans. It's weird. You buy the same things over and over l-like you can't remember having bought them before. Y-you bought me the same HeartSailor Destiny box set three times!"

_It's all coming out._ Sans felt hollow, his eyes fixed on the floor. _You thought you were doing a good job hiding this but everybody knew. They all knew. You blew it, bud. BIG TIME._

"I-I get it," Sans croaked, "The money. Ok. I don't have a job, I shouldn't spend so much money. I'll cut back."

"It's a bit too late for that, I'm afraid," Toriel shook her head.

"W-why. Did I spend ... a lot?"

"Over twenty thousand dollars," Papyrus finally spoke, and his tone was uncharacteristically soft. He lifted his head slowly from his hands to gaze sadly at his brother. "... in the last three months."

Sans' eyes darted from face to face around the room. Everyone was staring at him, horrified, like he had some kind of terminal disease.

"Is............ that a lot?"  

Papyrus returned his head to his hands and the rest of the group winced. With conviction, Asgore rose from his seat. Standing, he seemed to fill their entire living room, and his shadow loomed as he crossed to place both heavy paws on Sans' shoulders. The others closed in around him. It was _suffocating_.

"Sans, my friend." Asgore's booming voice still managed to be melodious and gentle, "I know it will be hard, but this cannot continue. You will tell us what's going on. You _MUST_."

_Welp_. That was his limit. The room twisted, the cyan-yellow-tinted scene stretching to an infinite line and he was _outta there._


End file.
